By Brian Dzenis

bdzenis@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Canfield athletic director Greg Cooper is getting a big boost from his own department.

During the coin toss before Canfield’s 34-7 victory against Poland, the school announced via the public address system that Cooper has found a liver donor in assistant wrestling coach Dave Crawford.

Cooper has nonalcoholic end stage fatty liver disease-cirrhosis and had been feeling ill going back to last year.

“To be able to find a live donor in of itself is an amazing thing,” Cooper said. “To have it be somebody whose literally apart of the Canfield family is absolutely amazing.”

Crawford was a longtime assistant under former wrestling coach Dean Conley and now works under Stephen Pitts. He is the father of three Canfield athletes. His oldest son, David, is a two-time state champ in wrestling who is wrestling at Pitt. Nick Crawford is a junior and Michael Crawford is a freshman.

The pair will undergo the transplant surgery Monday morning.